WELCOME!

It is a blog about my mood, what makes me reacting and what I feel interesting to share.
To the English native speakers: please forgive my typos and syntax.
Do not hesitate to let me a comment. I will love to hear about you.
Just below this welcome note, you will find daily news about Taiwan.

If you remember the presidential campaign in Taiwan, you must have in your mind how the “Taiwanese economy was bad“.

I posted earlier today HERE (my Forex blog) a quick commentary about Taiwanese economy without any partisan or political point of view (especially as a guest in this beautiful country, I don’t consider myself as authorized to get involved in the domestic politics).

So the point of view is purely from a financial economist’s one.

I just want to remind that the “so poor Taiwanese economy” shows that the real GDP rose 6.4% on the year-over-the-year basis on the last quarter of 2007 and the unemployment rate was not so bad (lowest since 7 years).

The good policy from the central bank helped to boost the capital inflows.

But now, Taiwan is facing the consequences of a global slowing down (except for some developing countries).

I do not think so that few hundred Chinese tourists per week will be the solution…

And I don’t think so that pushing to invest in China is good, especially that the investment environment in China deteriorated while investment risks increased for the first time this year, and nearly 10 percent of Taiwanese manufacturers in China expressed a willingness to return if the government would provide sufficient incentives, a report released 2 days ago (see HERE).

In the mean time, Taiwanese economy is getting sick. Where are the so ridiculous promises of Ma, as a candidate?

But they have a way (at least for now) to let Taiwanese people to think about something else: the former president’s case. All the controlled media are focusing on it now, with the help of some prosecutors offices which are leaking some unfounded (it’s unfounded until evidence are provided and anyway, it’s not supposed to be leaked until the end of the investigation) news.

And obviously, investigation is only on one side. It doesn’t concern all the political spectrum…

Beside all the above stuff… I have some thoughts.

1- Blue side is obviously thinking about some kind (or full) reunification. Do they believe that China will authorize another political party or even share some power? Of course not. So what are the motivations?

2- What if USA sells modern and powerful weapons to Taiwan and then Taiwan give up its stance in favor of China? Simple… These weapons could be used by China…

Just few hours ago, this morning, I posted HERE about the investigation into the age of Chinese female gymnast.

A lot of facts seems to prove she is under-aged.

Anyway, I concluded that I didn’t not believe that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will really investigate it even though, deep in my mind, I was still naive and hoped for a real investigation.

And now, just few hours later, the IOC concluded its investigation: everything is normal.

Move along. Nothing to see here…

It is really a big farce!

The “investigation” it ordered into whether some Chinese gymnasts were under the minimum age of 16 was concluded after just a few hours today.

The not-so stunning verdict: The Chinese are innocent.

Please move along, now. Nothing to see here.

“We believe the matter will be put to rest and there’s no question … on the eligibility,” IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. “The information we have received seems satisfactory in terms of the correct documentation – including birth certificates.”

While you slept, the IOC swept.

Sorry, the matter isn’t being put to rest no matter how many whitewash inspections are done. A real investigation does not take hours. It takes days or weeks or however long is necessary.

What exactly did they do except look at the same questionable info – government-issued passports – they had previously been presented? Did they ask He Kexin if she was 16, cross your heart and hope to die?

The Associated Press says the Chinese turned over information to the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) on Thursday evening. It included the current and former passport, ID card and family residence permit for the double-gold medalist. All had the same and proper birth date.

That was enough for FIG, which by Friday morning had declared everything fine.

No word on the old websites, interviews with friends and families, a trip to the birth hospital or discovery of old school records. Nothing.

Perhaps this would have amounted to little and perhaps He and the others are, indeed, 16 – but this was nothing but the most ridiculous kind of propaganda.

A 12-hour investigation? Really? No one at the IOC or FIG has even the sense to think, “Perhaps we should at least pretend to care before simply clearing the gymnasts?”

The investigation by FIG was so fast word of its start didn’t make the Chinese government-controlled English newspaper China Daily. No news is good news.

This in the face of mounting evidence from multiple media and citizen investigations in America and England that showed more and more old registration forms, gymnastics websites and athlete logs that showed three of the six Chinese gymnasts used to list birth dates from 1993 and 1994, which would make them too young to compete at the Olympics.

In an effort to protect young athletes before their bones and muscles fully formed, FIG mandates that to compete in the Beijing Games a gymnast must be born in 1992 or before.

First came stories in The New York Times, The Associated Press and the Times of London that listed He’s birth date as a too-young Jan. 1, 1994. Then private citizens got involved. The latest was from a New York computer expert going by the name Stryde Hax who combed old Chinese documents on the web that found even more of the same.

Just last December government controlled media wrote stories about He calling her a 13-year-old “little girl” and a “star of the future.” The future became now when she showed up at the Olympics with a Chinese passport that claimed she was born Jan. 1, 1992.

There were also suspicions about two of her teammates. The birth date of Yang Yilin was listed on official national registration lists posted by the General Administration of Sport of China website for three years from 2004 to 2006 as a too young Aug. 26, 1993, according to the AP.

On her passport her birth date is Aug. 26, 1992.

Jiang Yuyuan’s birthday was Oct. 1, 1993, as recently as a registration list for a 2007 competition. On her passport she was born Nov. 1, 1991.

Perhaps the birth date of one gymnast could be confused one time, but half the team on multiple occasions? Considering 2000 Chinese bronze medalist Yang Yun later admitted on state television she was 14 that year, the IOC or FIG should have been all over this.

Instead, they did nothing until the USOC requested action. Then they just brushed it aside.

Having younger, and presumably smaller and more nimble athletes, can be a significant advantage in some gymnastics disciplines. Romania’s Nadia Comaneci scored seven perfect 10s in the 1976 Games when she was just 14, before FIG set the age limit.

This investigation isn’t fair to the sport of gymnastics, which will forever look suspiciously on the competition here. It isn’t fair to the United States, Romania and Russia, who all deserve to move up one spot on the medal stand if China used ineligible athletes.

And it isn’t fair to China, He and her teammates, who if innocent don’t deserve this to hang over their heads forever.

The IOC and FIG have never been about fair, though. They’ve been about kowtowing to the powerful and cashing the checks. They have so lost their way, have become so insulated by the power, they can’t even fathom no one is accepting a kangaroo court investigation.